Maysun (b. 1980, Spain) has been covering political issues, social conflicts and natural disasters since 2005 She has freelanced for several NGO’s and national/international News Agencies such as EPA, AFP or ACN (Spain). Her work is distributed by Corbis. Her pictures have been published in TIME magazine, The New York Times, Lens Blog by NYT, National Geopraphic, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Stern, Focus magazine, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, International Herald Tribune, ABC News, NBC News, Al Jazeera, El Pais, El Mundo, and CNN.

About the Photograph:

“This photograph was taken in March 2013, in the district of Saif Al Dawla, one of the neighborhoods controlled by the FSA in Aleppo. I was trying to find Palestinians to continue my long term project To Exist is to Resist, about Palestinian identity around the world. After some months searching I found this Palestinian-Syrian woman, born in Aleppo but from Palestinian origins who was living alone with her three children in her half destroyed house. Her husband was living in a part of Aleppo controlled by the government. They didn’t see each other since the battle for Aleppo began years ago by then.”

“She was an elementary school teacher from a school in the neighborhood, but she couldn’t continue working since the war began. Her situation was very delicate because she wasn’t able to openly take any side. If she would have taken part for the rebels and renounced the government pension, she wouldn’t have a way to feed her children. If she had openly supported the regime, she might had been killed, as she was living in the rebel-controlled side. Aware of the situation, she was trying to keep a low profile. Despite the precarious situation of her house, half destroyed by regime strikes, and the requests to move anywhere else, from an FSA officer who helped and protected her, she preferred to stay where she was because it was her home and she had nowhere else to go.”

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Guillem Valle’s (b.1983, Spain) first interest in documentary photography began when, he traveled to Sarajevo at the age of 14 on an Exchange Student program. He has been based in Bangkok since 2010 covering Southeast Asia for The New York Times, The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal among others. In 2011 he covered the Arab Spring including the civil war in Libya and the Kurdish struggle in Northern Syria. His work has been recognized by World Press Photo and Best of Photojournalism.

About the Photograph:

“In July, shortly after rebels struck in the Syrian capital with unprecedented attacks and a bomb blast that killed four of President Bashar Assad’s top security aides, Syrian security forces began pulling back from several towns and villages across the border area, ceding de facto control to armed Kurdish fighters (YPG) who have since set up checkpoints, hoisted Kurdish flags, and began exercising a degree of autonomy unheard of before. As they start developing their own agenda and unstoppably walking towards their independence, they often battle other rebels groups, specially the Islamic factions.”

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Olivier Touron (b. 1969, France) followed a university curriculum destining him to teach math when he decided to change course and make his passion his profession. In 1999, he joined EMI-CFD and became a freelance photojournalist. Based in the north of France near Lille, he freelances with the French and international press (Géo, Libération, L’Humanité, Le Monde, L’Express, VSD, Pèlerin, La Vie, Marianne, Marie-Claire, STERN, Financial Times, Newsweek Japan). His personal work on the Tunisian revolution, minors and justice and the Kurds, have been presented in exhibitions and books. Olivier also leads photography workshops and teaches master’s students in Journalism at the Faculty of Humanities in Lille.

About the Photograph:

“I had been commissioned by the magazine Géo France (the feature appeared in the magazine in February 2013) to report on how the Kurds of this region in the northeast of Syria profit from the civil war to further their dream of independence, borne along by the PYD party. At the time the photo was taken, tension was high. During a massive demonstration, the people showed their support for the martyrs of their armed forces killed during battles against the Jihadist brigades Al-Nosra, siding with Al-Qaida, on the western border of their territory, in the town of Serekanié (Ras-Al-Ain in arabic). Kurdish women are particularly present in the struggle. They know even better than the men that they have everything to lose if the Islamist’s are victorious. From a young age the Kurdish girls in the movement are instructed and trained to actively take part in the development of their society.”

“An enclave in the northeast of Syria, the Kurd’s region is a difficult zone to access. Although under Kurdish control, the borders with Iraq to the east and Turkey to the north are closed from the outside. Turkey and Iraq show a practically hostile defiance to the project promoted by the Kurdish movements. To face up to these threats, the population can only count on itself and its paltry arms and on ASAYIS civil security forces and the YPG military forces linked to the PYD. The YPG are the Syrian version of an armed force developed by the Kurdish guerrilla group of the PKK (from Turkey) called the HPG.”

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Originally from the Czech Republic, Gabriela Bulisova received an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2005. Her photo essays include: Chernobyl-accident contaminated areas of Ukraine and Belarus, women in Iran, and the aftermath of the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Most recently she conducted a project entitled: “Guests”, featuring photographs of Iraqi refugees who fled the war and sectarian violence and relocated to Damascus, Syria. These photographs are currently on view at the Corcoran Corridor Gallery in Washington DC.

About the Photograph:

“At first glance, Sayyida Zainab doesn’t seem much different from any other bustling, poor Damascus neighborhood, until one listens carefully: the Iraqi dialect spoken here transports one from Syria to Baghdad. This is where two million Iraqi refugees come to escape war and sectarian violence until they can return to their homes again. This Iraqi refugee, an upper middle class architect who entered Syria did not want to reveal his identity for safety reasons. He lives in fear of deportation and is left with no money and zero prospects for finding a job. He is desperate, facing an eviction from his apartment, and is unable to provide for his wife and two little children”.

To see more of the Guests project visit Gabriela’s affiliate photo agency, Metro Collective.

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About...

Photographer and photo editor Geoffrey Hiller has created Verve Photo to feature photographs and interviews by the finest contemporary image makers today. Verve Photo is a reminder of the power of the still image. Verve Photo will also point you to new photo agencies, publications, and inspiring multimedia projects.